Monthly Archives: August 2013

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Golden Boy Promotions and Super Judah Promotions on Monday announced they will team up to promote the career of former junior welterweight and welterweight champion Zab Judah.

“Super Judah Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions working together is phenomenal,” Judah said in a statement. “I have been doing business with Golden Boy Promotions for a number of years, working both with them and against them and I know what it’s like to be on both sides. Through those times, I see that we are a perfect fit. This joint venture will give me the experience I need as a promoter and get me the big fights I want at this point of my career.”

Judah, 35, is from Las Vegas via Brooklyn. He is 42-8 with 29 knockouts. He has lost two of his past three bouts. The losses were via 5th-round KO to Amir Khan and via unanimous decision to Danny Garcia; Judah showed a lot of heart in the Garcia fight and lost by two, three and five points on the scorecards.

Daniel Geale decked Darren Barker in the sixth round with a body punch, with Barker just beating the count. Geale also appared to have Barker hurt in the 12th round of their fight Saturday at Revel Resort in Atlantic City. But Barker did enough in between to come away with a split-decision victory and Geale’s middleweight world championship.

Two judges seemed to be in the ballpark. Alan Rubenstein had Geale ahead 114-113, and Carlos Ortiz Jr. gave it to Barker by that same 114-113 count. Barbara Perez also had Barker winning, but her 116-111 score for him seemed a bit out of whack as this appeared to be a rather close fight.

One thing’s certain, there can be no question as to the courage of Barker, who just did rise at the count of 9 after absorbing that wicked body punch to the liver. It was the type of punch from which many have not risen, or even tried.

Geale (29-2), of Australia, loses his title in his fifth defense. Barker, of London, is 26-1.He is a world champion for the first time.

Sergey Kovalev of Russia on Saturday went to the backyard of Nathan Cleverly and stopped the Welshman in the fourth round. Kovalev took Cleverly’s light heavyweight title in the fight held at Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.

Kovalev (22-0-1, 20 KOs) decked Cleverly (26-1) twice in the third round, according to the Assoicated Press. Kovalev was pummeling Cleverly when the referee stepped in to halt the bout in the fourth.

Andrzej Fonfara of Chicago via Poland knocked out former light heavyweight champion Gabriel Campillo of Spain in the ninth round with a body shot in a light heavyweight title-elimination bout at U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox. It was televised on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights.

Fonfara, 25, is now 24-2 with 14 knockouts. Campillo, 34, is 22-6-1 with nine knockouts. He was champion from June 2009 to January 2010, losing his belt in his second defense.

Former welterweight champion Andre Berto on Wednesday had what is being called successful surgery to repair a ruptured tendon in his right shoulder, according to a news release.

The surgery was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles. Once in, Dr. ElAttrache discovered the tendon had been completely torn, top to bottom.

Berto might be able to begin rehabilitation in six weeks, and begin boxing training in four months.

“I am happy to have the surgery behind me and hear that everything went well,” said Berto, who tore the tendon early in his 12th-round TKO loss to Jesus Soto Karass on July 27. “I’m going to rest up and focus all my energy on my recovery so that I can return to the ring full force in 2014.”

The four-part documentary – All Access: Mayweather vs. Canelo – will debut Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. (PST) on Showtime. The series will delve into the lives of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez ahead of their junior middleweight title fight Sept. 14 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas (on Showtime pay-per-view).

The second and third episodes will be shown Aug. 31 and Sept. 7 with the finale to air Sept. 11.

Mayweather, 36, is 44-0 with 26 knockouts. Alvarez, of Mexico, turned 23 on July 18. He is 42-0-1 with 30 knockouts.

Most boxers who become successful in the pro ranks started as very young amateurs. We’re talking 8, 9 years old. At the latest. That’s why it’s always cool to see someone get a late start and become world champion. Such is the case with Denver’s Mike Alvarado, who Oct. 19 will defend his junior welterweight belt against hard-hitting Ruslan Provodnikov of Russia at First Bank Center near Denver (on HBO).

Alvarado was kind of in no-man’s land a couple of years out of high school when the boxing bug bit him at the age of 20.

“I guess it was just the way I was living,”Alvarado said via telephone this week, when asked what prompted him to take up the sweet science at that late stage. “I mean, after high school I wasn’t really doing anything. You know, work or nothing. So one day I was figuring out what to do with myself and I went to the gym. I was just so determined to do something. I mean, I was multi-talented. I played every sport you can think of. I was a wrestler my whole life.
“I was just so curious what I could do with it, and it was just meant to be. I just went with it and stood with it and gave it my all and it blossomed.”

Trainer Henry Ramirez has tried and tried to get his fighter, heavyweight contender Chris Arreola, to train hard. In Ramirez’s mind, poor camps are directly responsible for two of Arreola’s three losses – to Tomasz Adamek and Bermane Stiverne.

“I didn’t move the training camp to Phoenix because we were having great training camps at home,” Ramirez said Wednesday via telephone from Phoenix. “He needed to get away from home.”
Ramirez said Arreola (35-3, 30 KOs) has been working harder than ever in the 2 1/2 weeks he’s been in camp.

Golden Boy Promotions on Tuesday announced it has moved its card featuring a main event between heavyweights Chris Arreola and Seth Mitchell from Friday, Sept. 6 to Saturday, Sept. 7 at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio.

Golden Boy did not give a specific reason for the move. But it’s obvious it was made because a Top Rank Inc. card that was to feature super middleweights Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Brian Vera on Sept. 7 at Staples Center was postponed Monday because of a cut sustained by Chavez in sparring.

Arreola-Mitchell will be televised by Showtime. It will include a featherweight bout between former bantamweight/super bantamweight champion Rafael Marquez of Mexico and Efrain Esquivias of Carson.

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